BOX ELDER COUNTY – It appears that the Box Elder School District is headed for its second voter referendum in two years over a proposed lease revenue bond for new construction.
On Jan. 16, Box Elder resident and activist Jaime Munns delivered a voter petition with more than 7,000 signatures to county officials. If those signatures are verified, they will send the issue of the proposed $140 million lease revenue bond to all county voters for approval or disapproval on the ballot in November of 2026.
No matter what the outcome of that ballot referendum, the resulting delay means more future expense for the Box Elder School District, according to Superintendent Steve Carlsen.
“Delaying large projects means paying more later, while students wait for learning spaces,” according to a lengthy explanation of the need for the lease revenue bond posted on the school district’s website. “It is not fiscally prudent to continue to wait.”
The question of new school construction has been a hot potato in Box Elder County for some time.
After local residents turned thumbs down on a general obligation revenue bond referendum in November 2024, the Box Elder School District hatched a plan to instead proceed with a lease revenue bond issue.
A lease revenue bond is a financing tool used by school districts to build or improve facilities, according to the district’s website post. It functions similarly to a home mortgage – allowing the district to spread the cost of large projects over time rather than paying the full cost upfront.
The estimated payback period for that $140 million bond would be 25 years.
In August, the School District approved a budget for 2025-26 school year that included a property tax increase that generated $11.2 million in new revenue. Of that amount, $2 million was allocated to salary increases for employees and $9.2 million was earmarked for construction of a new elementary school in Tremonton and remodeling of the Bear River and Box Elder high schools to accommodate moving the county’s ninth grade students into those facilities.
Even accounting for interest charges, Carlsen argues, building sooner is less expensive than waiting because inflated construction costs often increase faster than interest and compound each year.
For example, Carlsen told ABC-4 News that Box Elder built an elementary school a few years previously for $27 million. A smaller school now planned for the Tremonton area is expected to cost more than $34 million.
Munns counters that the petition drive doesn’t necessarily mean that Box Elder voters are opposed to the lease revenue bond, but she feels they want to have more voice in the decision-making process. The district was moving in a direction to spend millions of dollars without public input on the matter.
But district officials emphasize that county growth and needs will not simply go away while the voters decide on the referendum in November.
“Construction costs will keep going up,” the district website predicts. “Addressing these needs sooner helps protect taxpayer investment and helps ensure student are in adequate learning spaces.”